Toy vehicles of various kinds have been popular with children for many generations and in recent years, relatively small-sized four-wheel vehicles have become popular which require no winding of motors or the like to power them but instead, employ inertia-type flywheels, which are energized by pushing the vehicle along a surface, such as a floor or table, rapidly a number of times to get the flywheel rotating at high speed and the weight thereof is sufficient to effect movement of the vehicle for substantial distances during various periods of time. For the most part, vehicles of this type are powered by a single axle and typical examples of such vehicles comprise the subject matter of prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,873,553 to Ullman, dated Feb. 17, 1959, and 3,955,429, to Holden, dated May 11, 1976.
To render vehicles of this type more versatile, and especially to have greater climbing power to ascend, for example, inclined surfaces, such as a ramp, simulated bridge, or the like, it has been found that if both axles of four-wheeled vehicles are powered, they are able to ascend such inclined surfaces, whereas when only a single axle is powered, it is difficult, if at all possible, for the vehicle to ascend or climb such inclined surfaces.
Toy vehicles of various kinds in which two or more axles are powered are not new and typical examples of this type of toy comprise the subject matter of prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,087,277 to Clark, dated Feb. 17, 1914; 3,540,151 to Ishida, dated Nov. 17, 1970; and 3,849,931 to Gulley, Jr., dated Nov. 26, 1974. The types of toys shown in said aforementioned patents are relatively sophisticated, and of the three, only the patent to Clark employs an inertia flywheel to supply the driving force for both axles of the vehicle. However, the nature of the Clark device is such that when one end of the vehicle, which appears to be an electrical locomotive, hits an abutment, such as a wall or article of furniture, the motor is shifted to reverse the direction of movement of the wheels, and this occurs each time either end of the vehicle hits an abutting surface, as long as the device is driven by rotation of the inertia flywheel. Obviously, the reversibility of movement requires considerable mechanism, which is not required in a toy vehicle adapted, for example, for a single direction only without reversibility, and it is this type of toy vehicle that the present invention provides, details of which are set forth below: